I don't know why I am just now discovering this wonderful movie The Last Waltz , about the musical group known as The Band.

I'd heard their songs over the years, especially "The Weight," and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." But I hadn't known about the diversity in their musical talents nor really paid much attention to them as people. After I did so, I began to realize that their sheer humanism is one of the reasons I love their music. They put so much raw emotion into their songs, and the combination of rock, country, and what Bob Dylon calls "electric" makes for an awesome sound created by The Band.

Levon Helm's talent is outstanding, even today at age 65 as he keeps musical "rambles" at his studio in Woodstock, NY. Two of the original members are dead, so there won't be a reunion, more's the pity.

Since I wrote about The Last Waltz, garagejazz, I've picked up the book by Levon Helm entitled This Wheel's On Fire

Helm did not have a lot of good things to say about Robbie Robertson and the making of The Last Waltz. The book begins with Helm's reaction to Richard Manuel's suicide, which of course was a horrible event for the group. Helm says Robertson stole the rights to most of the Band's songs... songs which they all contributed to, but which Robertson claimed only he wrote.

Grab a copy of the book if you've not read it. It's not the greatest writing in the world, but it kept my attention.

Catherine

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman